Giles Deacon

Giles Deacon talks fashion for The Sunday Times Style's In Conversation With series with Colin McDowell.

"I didn't really know what I wanted to do - I just knew I wanted to do something creative," Deacon said. "I did badly in my A levels - on the General Studies paper, one of the first things it asked was how to thread a sewing machine - I failed that!"

It’s a good thing that, despite being named British Designer of the Year in 2006, Giles Deacon has yet to become a household name—words haven’t caught up with what he does yet. Explaining his collections for Giles to your sister or neighbor is not easy. Other designers have vision, but Deacon has visions—the kind that usually send you to a shrink or priest. Not fond of restricting himself to any one kind of unifying theme for his phantasmagorical shows, Deacon, 39, has become a kind of British Bacchus. At each show a fresh gang of camp followers emerges as if leaving a mad party, festooned with Deaconesque fancies like ribbons, shirring, graphics, fringe, and more. His Fall ’08 show—an eerily prescient ode to Edgar Allan Poe’s The Masque of the Red Death—was a crepuscular parade of gothic elegance, with whiffs of mantillas, mantises, and Metropolis (1927).

But even though his mind seems lodged in the notions district, Deacon is no fool. A graduate of Central Saint Martins who worked at Gucci and Bottega Veneta, Deacon showed his practical side with Spring ’09, focusing on lesser-known fortes, cutting the simple, sweet, and sexy dresses with just a dash of Deacon, which has already endeared him to smart-setters from Agyness Deyn to Gwyneth Paltrow.

He finds himself drawn to the strange-but-true images and stories he finds on the Internet, as well as the colorful personalities London is known for. “I love going to the British Museum to see the British home county ladies,” he says. “I love people who are eccentric, and you see really great eccentrics here.”

Giles Deacon is leaving Daks as the brand cuts the luxury line to refocus on its ready-to-wear lines.

"I have thoroughly enjoyed working with the Daks team and the opportunity that this collaboration gave me to work with such an established British brand," says Giles. "It has been a rewarding experience on both sides and I wish Daks every success as they go forwards."

Video, DAKS by Giles Deacon Fall-Winter 2008.2009 Womens

Giles Deacon may resurrect the house of Elsa Schiaparelli.